Glad not to be a Phils fan today

(Well, they are kind of my NL team, but that's beside the point.) How awful was the umpiring last night? Kerwin Danley, the homeplate umpire, blew two huge calls that may have cost Philly the win. The first was on a Rocco Baldelli checked swing - Danley seemed to have wrung him up, but then pointed to first base for an appeal. I've never seen that before, and neither had Tim McCarver and Joe Buck (who have about 100 years of baseball  experience between them). Baldelli walked instead of striking out, and the Rays scored at least one run because of it. Then in the 9th, David Price brushed a fastball by Jimmy Rollins' jersey - Rollins tried to go to first, but Danley missed it and made him get back into the box (Rollins would pop out). So instead of two runners on with no outs, it was one on with one out. The Phils scored one that inning and lost by two.

This is the freakin' World Series and this is the kind of umpiring we get? At the very least, MLB should take a page from the NFL's book and use the best umpires for the World Series.

But as you might know, I'm an avid proponent of video review/instant replay. It certainly would have helped last night. It would even make poor umpires not quite so poor.

- The link above also mentions that the Dodgers offered a $60 million, two-year deal to Manny Ramirez. They're smart to only go two years, but $30 million a year would make him the highest paid player in baseball. He's a phenomenal hitter but is nothing special in the field or on the bases (whereas Arod, for all his foibles, is an all-around player).